Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles led the London premiere of “Sense and Sensibility” on Tuesday, marking the first public rollout for Focus Features’ new adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1811 debut novel ahead of its theatrical release next month.
The pair walked the green carpet at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square alongside co-stars George MacKay, Herbert Nordrum, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Fiona Shaw and Frank Dillane. Edgar-Jones plays Elinor Dashwood, the more reserved of two sisters forced to leave the family estate with their widowed mother after their father’s death, while Creed-Miles plays her more impulsive younger sister, Marianne. The story follows the Dashwood women as they navigate love, financial hardship and the rigid social expectations of 18th-century England after settling into a modest cottage.
Georgia Oakley directs from a screenplay by novelist Diana Reid, working from Austen’s original text. Oakley’s debut feature, “Blue Jean,” earned her a BAFTA nomination for outstanding debut, and this marks her first period adaptation. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produce through Working Title Films, the banner behind Focus Features’ earlier Austen adaptations, including 2005’s “Pride and Prejudice” and 2020’s “Emma.”
The new version arrives more than three decades after Ang Lee’s celebrated 1995 adaptation, which starred Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet as the Dashwood sisters and remains a benchmark for prestige literary adaptations. This telling has shifted release dates more than once, having originally been set for a September 11 debut before Focus pushed it back a month to avoid a crowded release window.
Following its London premiere, the film heads to Sydney later this month, where Edgar-Jones and Creed-Miles are scheduled to make additional press appearances ahead of Australia’s October 15 release. The film opens in the United Kingdom on September 25 and reaches U.S. theaters on October 16.
